Thomas Eßer

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Thomas Eßer

Thomas Eßer , also: Esser (born  May 15, 1870 in Schwerfen , †  November 29, 1948 in Euskirchen ) was editor and politician .

Professional career

At the age of five, Eßer moved from Schwerfen, which belonged to Zülpich, to Euskirchen, where he would spend the rest of his life. From 1884 to 1888 he completed an apprenticeship as a printer at the Euskirchener Zeitung , where he worked as a printer until 1895.

In 1895 he opened a manufacturing business. In 1898 he founded the independent artisans and tradesman in Euskirchen and was starting from 1900 until 1923 when the club in the "SME Office" and the Kreishandwerkerschaft rose, its chairman. In 1899 he became managing director , and from 1922 to 1933 he was chairman of the Rhenish Craftsmen Association. In 1900 he also founded the Euskirchener Spar- und Kreditgenossenschaft (today Volksbank ), which he headed until 1933, and was on the board of the Rheinische Genossenschaftsbank from 1904 to 1914 . During the same period he was editor and partner in the Euskirchener Volkszeitung, which he founded . In 1904 Eßer became a board member and in 1908 a member of the supervisory board of the Rheinischer Genossenschaftsverband, which he chaired in 1930. From 1912 to 1931 he was also a board member of the Chamber to Cologne .

Political career

From 1906 to 1924 Thomas Eßer was a city councilor in Euskirchen (center). From 1912 to 1933 he was a member of the Reich Executive Committee of the Center Party , from 1913 to 1919 a member of the Euskirchen district assembly and from 1918 to 1924 an alderman in Euskirchen. From 1918 to 1928 Eßer was a member of the provincial parliament of the Rhine Province .

From 1919 to 1921 he was a member of the Prussian state constitutional assembly and in 1921/22 a member of the Prussian state parliament .

From September 1921 he was a member of the Reichstag , became Vice-President in November 1926 and from May 20, 1928 to 1933 first Vice-President of the German Reichstag in Berlin .

On October 2, 1925, the city of Euskirchen made him an honorary citizen .

time of the nationalsocialism

Thomas Eßer wrote numerous brochures and manuscripts on political, commercial and cooperative topics. He was also a permanent contributor to daily and specialist newspapers.

On April 6, 1933 he was alleged misconduct by the Nazi regime arrested and remained until May 16 in Cologne prison Klingelpütz detained. On June 7, 1933, his honorary citizenship of the city of Euskirchen was revoked. Since he was banned from writing and speaking , he then wrote various novels and stories anonymously .

In September 1933 he was forced to retire as head of the Euskirchener Gewerbebank.

On August 22, 1944, Eßer was arrested after the assassination attempt on Hitler as part of the Gewitter campaign and transferred as a protective prisoner together with Konrad Adenauer , Josef Baumhoff , Peter Schlack , Otto Gerig and Joseph Roth to the labor education camp in the exhibition halls in Cologne-Deutz.

Restoration of dignity

On April 16, 1945, the honorary citizenship rights of the city of Euskirchen, which had been revoked in 1933, were recognized again.

In 1945 Thomas Eßer and others founded the CDU in the district and the city of Euskirchen. He became chairman of the advisory committee of the military government for the district of Euskirchen .

In addition to the honorary citizenship, one of the district vocational schools in Euskirchen and a street in Südstadt and the village square in Schwerfen are named after Thomas Eßer.

literature

  • R. Weitz: Thomas Eßer - a central politician and the Third Reich. In: Aspects of National Socialism . History in the Euskirchen district. Volume 1. Published by the Association of History and Home Friends of the Euskirchen District. Office of the Association of Friends of History and Homeland of the Euskirchen District, Euskirchen 1987, 144 pp.
  • City of Euskirchen 700 years of the city of Euskirchen, 1302-2002 , book manufacture Handpresse Weilerswist, 2002, ISBN 3-935221-17-7 ; Pp. 177-206.
  • G. letter / B. Kaff / H.-O. Kleinmann: "Christian Democrats against Hitler". Published on behalf of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung eV, Verlag Herder Freiburg im Breisgau, 2004, ISBN 3-451-20805-9 ; P. 212.
  • Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 2: Social politicians in the Weimar Republic and during National Socialism 1919 to 1945. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7376-0474-1 , p. 47 f. ( Online , PDF; 3.9 MB).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Eßer, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Esser, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (center), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Difficult
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1948
Place of death Euskirchen